Lara, a southpaw, immediately established his faster hands in the opening rounds. He stung the onrushing Angulo with a crunching left hand. A minute later a combination staggered Angulo.

Angulo (22-3, 18 KOs) found some success by working the body.

Lara did well in round three by using his agility. His movement was keeping Angulo from sitting down on his punches. He peppered Angulo with quick combinations. Angulo, with the capacity crowd chanting “El Perro,” continued to land heavy shots to the midsection.

In round four, Angulo changed the completion of the fight with one punch. After forcing Lara into the ropes, he connected with a crushing left hook. Lara collapsed to the canvas. The number one junior middleweight contender pulled himself up at seven and fought back the rest of the stanza.

In round five and six, Lara was back to firing combinations that rarely missed. Angulo, 30, pressed the action. His punches were slow but heavy. He ate two rights but found Lara’s side with a hook.

Lara continued to beat Angulo to the punch in rounds seven and eight. His right jab tattooed Angulo’s face. Angulo kept applying the pressure. He was eating punches but also scoring. His best results were achieved when he forced Lara into the ropes.

He even changed to southpaw to try and confuse Lara.

Angulo stalked Lara in round nine. His ability to absorb punches was keeping him in the fight. Another savage left hook put Lara down on the seat of his pants. Lara struggled up and tried to survive. He managed to connect with two vicious combinations, but again Angulo took the punches well.

Lara landed a sneaky left right a minute into round 10. Angulo marched forward. A left to the eye followed by a right caused Angulo to pause and walk towards his corner. The referee immediately waved the fight off.

It was later determined that Angulo had suffered a broken orbital bone in his left eye.

The time was 1:47 of round 10.

"Angulo started very tough in the first round, but then I felt him lose power,” said Lara in the ring after the fight. “I was still winning the fight even with the knockdowns.”

Angulo left the ring quickly and was taken to a nearby hospital. It was later reported that he told a boxing commisoner at ringside that he was thumbed in the eye.

John J. Raspanti responds to all his emails. Please send all questions and comments to John at: marlow_58@hotmail.com